Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Word Building
Word Building
in the present work, we will talk about the construction of words, its formation process, types
and we will give some examples for this theme. Word formation is a very important aspect of
most languages, and English is no exception. The term «word formation» refers to the
processes through which new words are created.
Word formation is a very important aspect of most languages, and English is no exception. The
term «word formation» refers to the processes through which new words are created. Given
its significance in the English language and in Cambridge English exams, this short article will
outline the basic word formation processes. Let’s go!
Compounding
It means creating a word by adding up two or more different words. Compound words have a
new meaning, which is obviously related to the meanings of the other words. For example:
Not all compound words are written together. Sometimes they can by hyphenated (con guión)
or separate, such as «traffic lights» or «ice-cream». Some, such as «ice-cream» can be written
with our without a hyphen.
This process is normally done through suffixation or prefixation, that is to say, adding
a suffix or a prefix. For instance:
Conversion
Conversion happens when a word changes from one word class to another. For instance, the
verb to google is formed from the noun Google; or the noun read (as in a good read) is formed
from the verb to read. For example:
I emailed this document to John. (emailed is a verb formed from the noun email)
Blending
This involves taking a part of two different words to make a new word, like merging two words
based on the sounds of these words. This is extremely popular in the English language, and it
produces hundreds of new words every year whose meanings is a mixture of the meanings of
the original words. In some cases, these are informal, but there are many that have become a
natural part of standard English. Let’s see some examples:
Abbreviation
When we abbreviate a word, we form another word by shortening it or simply by using only
part of the word:
In general, we can talk about two types of abbreviation: clipping and acronyms.
Clipping
This means literally clipping the word, which means «cutting» the word to make it shorter. This
normally makes the word more informal and/or appealing. Some examples are:
advertisement = ad
hamburger = burger
demonstration = demo
Acronyms
Acronyms, which are a form of abbreviation, are words formed by using only the first letter(s)
of the words. By creating an acronym, we are reducing the meaning of a whole phrase o
sentence to a single word. Let’s see some popular examples:
United Nations = UN
Novel creation
This basically means coming up with a completely new word without any of the processes
above. These words are typically referred to as «neologisms». Some examples are:
puzzle
bash
gimmick
gadget
Creative re-spelling
This involves spelling a word differently in order to make it more practical, attractive, or to
fulfil some particular aim, usually commercial. For example:
Loan words
In linguistics, a loan happens when we take a word directly from a foreign language. Some
examples of loan words in English are:
solo
pizza
tapas
negro
carpe diem
cul de sac
In general, when we loan a word, the spelling doesn’t usually change. However, some other
changes may occur, like creating a plural form which doesn’t exist in the original language. As
for pronunciation, we usually pronounce them with an «English accent», so it varies slightly
from the original pronunciation.
As far as Cambridge English exams go, it’s derivation (prefixes & suffixes) that concerns us
most, as it is present in two of the parts of the section of Use of English B2 and Use of English
C1.
If you want to download and print this post about types of word formation in English, just click
the button below and download a free PDF document.
Na língua inglesa, há três processos que formam as palavras, dividindo-as em pequenas partes,
chamadas de morfemas.
Ao conhecê-los bem, será muito mais fácil identificar a categoria gramatical da palavra,
mesmo que não se saiba o significado.
E esses são os três processos do word formation em inglês:
• Affixation – afixação
• Conversion – conversão
• Compounding – composição
Entender mais sobre o word formation em inglês é uma forma de acelerar o seu aprendizado.
E se você quer saber outras formas de aprender inglês mais rápido, clique aqui.
Affixation é o processo morfológico que adiciona prefixos e sufixos a palavras já existentes. Assim, torna-se possív
Para entender mais, veja esse exemplo:
Suffixes – sufixos
Dos dois tipos de afixos em inglês – sufixos e prefixos, – os sufixos são os que aparecem com
mais frequência.
Prefixes – prefixos
Pre- Antes
Un- Não
Para melhorar o seu entendimento no idioma e aumentar o seu vocabulário, você pode
escutar podcasts em inglês!
Exemplo:
Aprender a formação de palavras em inglês pode parecer algo complexo, não é mesmo?
Contudo, esse conhecimento é essencial para quem quer se tornar fluente em inglês.
Aliás, você sabia que a fluência em inglês pode te ajudar a ganhar um aumento salarial? Não?
Então clique aqui e saiba mais.
Compounding – composição
Agora você vai o terceiro processo responsável pelo word formation em inglês: o compouding.
Para você entender melhor, criamos um gráfico com várias palavras compostas.
Assim, além de ampliar o seu vocabulário, você poderá ver várias exemplos de como duas
palavras formam uma só, criando um significado.
Mas temos uma boa notícia para você: também é possível ter mais contato com o idioma nos
seus momentos de lazer. Que tal ver uma lista de filmes e séries e inglês para você aprender o
idioma enquanto descansa?
Talvez você nunca tenha ouvido esse termo antes. Mas as blending words estão mais
presentes na sua vida do que você imagina.
Elas são criadas através da combinação de duas partes diferentes. Olha só:
Um acronym é uma palavra composta das primeiras letras com as iniciais de uma palavra ou
frase. Veja exemplos:
Conversion
Conversion involves the change of a word from one word class to another. For example, the
verbs to email and to microwave are formed from the nouns email and microwave:
If you’re not careful, some downloads can damage your computer. (noun from
verb download)
It’s a very big if and I’m not at all sure we can afford it. (noun from conjunction, meaning ‘it’s
not at all certain’)
We also use conversion when we change a proper noun into a common noun:
Compounding
When we use compounding, we link together two or more bases to create a new word.
Normally, the first item identifies a key feature of the second word. For example, the two
bases back and ache can combine to form the compound noun backache, and the two
bases post and card combine to form the compound noun postcard.
Compounds are found in all word classes. The most common types of compounds are:
Nouns: car park, rock band
Adverbs: good-naturedly, nevertheless
It is sometimes difficult to know where to put hyphens in words that are compound ed. It is
also difficult to know whether to separate words (e.g. post box) or to join the words
(e.g. postbox). In such cases, it is best to check in a good learner’s dictionary.
See also:
Compounds
Compound words
Compound words
Hyphens
Verbs: formation
Abbreviation
We use clipping when we shorten or ‘clip’ one or more syllables from a word. We also
commonly clip proper names for people:
lab: laboratory
Matt: Matthew
Acronyms are a type of abbreviation formed when the initial letters of two or more words are
combined in a way that produces consonant and vowel sequences found in words. Acronyms
are normally pronounced as words:
Initials are similar to acronyms but are pronounced as sets of letters, not as words:
WHO: World Health Organisation, pronounced W–H–O
CD: compact disc, pronounced C–D
We form blends when we combine parts of existing words to form a new word: